Isabelle's POV

I turned over and saw the clock, 5:15. I never was one to sleep in, and being at the lake I wanted to enjoy every hour of daylight. Simon was still asleep, but the sun was already coming up and I wanted to start my day, so I carefully lifted his arm from around my waist and rolled out of bed. I grabbed my robe off the hook on the back of the door and quietly left his room. Simon was use to my early rising, so he wouldn't be alarmed if I wasn't there when he woke-up. He'd probably sleep another two or three hours. Clary usually left the door unlocked, so I was just going to sneak in and grab some clothes. When I peeked in her room, I was surprised she wasn't in her bed, but she could be somewhere else in the house or out back in the lounge chair enjoying the sunrise. She'd been in bed since Jace brought her back to the cottage round 7:00 last night, so she probably already got plenty of sleep. I was fishing through my drawers for something to wear when the door to the bedroom opened. I turned around to see Clary frozen looking at me with an overly surprised look on her face wearing an oversized guy's Yankee t-shirt, Jace's t-shirt. She looked like a teenage girl that was just caught sneaking back into her window after a night of being out. I smiled an amused smile at her.

"You're up early." She nodded slowly and walked into the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Yeah. I don't know if I've ever woke-up this early when I didn't have anywhere to be." I laughed. Clary was not an early riser, she loved to sleep in. She came in and sat down on the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs.

"Staying up or going back to bed?" She smirked.

"Staying up unfortunately." I nodded.

"How do you feel?" Although she only had a touch of a smile on her lips, her eyes and her whole face looked happy.

"Fine. You know me, after a fainting spell I just need a little time, last night was pretty bad, but a good night sleep and I'm right as rain this morning." It was true. This wasn't her first occurrence and she bounced back well.

"You had a good night sleep?" She hasn't been sleeping well since the accident. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I actually did thank you." I didn't want to push her. She looked happy for a change.

"Simon will be asleep for at least a couple more hours, why don't we do something just the two of us. Want to go out to breakfast? I hear Panera Bread opens at 6:00, otherwise Alec said there is a 24 hour diner up the road. My treat." She smiled.

"Sounds good." I grabbed the clothes in my hand and headed to take my shower. When I was done I headed back to Clary's room. I figured I'd blow dry my hair and do my makeup in there and let her start her shower. When I walked back in the room she was lying in bed reading, she looked up at me from her book.

"The shower's all yours." Clary nodded and jumped up. She gently placed a bookmark in the book and set it down onto the nightstand. She grabbed a handful of clothes off the bureau and left the room, shutting the door behind her. I walked over to the nightstand and picked up the book. A tale of Two Cities. It was a hardcover edition of the book. I thumbed through it gently; it had a very ornate script. It would have been a very nice edition when it was new, but now it was rather worn. As the pages flew by, I was left with just the cover in my hand, on the front page there was a very faded hand written inscription. I couldn't make out most of it, but the writing was in cursive, very elegant, and at the very end I could just make out: With hope at last, William Herondale. I brushed my hand across the page lightly. This was Jace's book. Not just any book, a very special book to him. I wondered what Clary was doing with it. This was one of the very few things Jace had from his biological father. I put the book back down as I began to get ready.

I would never forget that book. It was shortly after Jace arrived at our home, maybe a month. I was nine and he was ten. We had played as young children at times, so we knew each other fairly well even before he ever moved in with us, but I hadn't seen him for a few years, and now he was going to be living with us, and that was a big change. I never seemed to fight with him before, but after he moved in, he seemed to torment me all the time and I'd get so angry at him. He wasn't making it easy to live with him, and he was only ten at the time. I had wanted him to play with my Barbie dolls with me, but he laughed at me and said boys don't play with dolls. I tried to beg him to play with me and finally he said he would, and then he proceeded to decapitate one of my dolls. Then he joked, saying he was wrong, playing with dolls could be fun. I was so mad at him. I screamed at him and he just laughed. He snatched another one of my dolls out of my Barbie dollhouse and held it in the air above my head. He was much taller than me, even when he was only ten. He held her body in one hand and her head in the other, asking me repeatedly if I really wanted him to play with my dolls. Alec wasn't in the room at the time. I'm not sure why. He would have reined Jace in for me; Alec was usually the only one that could, even from a young age. I went flying out of the living room and down the hall to Jace's bedroom.

I grabbed his book off his nightstand and ran back down the hall and into the living room with it, where he had a third doll awaiting execution, and two headless bodies lay at his feet. I had a trickle of tears running down my cheeks. I stood across the room from him, just at the entrance to the living room. Alec had just come in the house, so he was now on the other side of the living room by the front door, but he was intently watching Jace with my doll; we formed a triangle. I held the book up, one hand on the cover one hand on a handful of pages, ready to rip them out. I knew the book was important to him, but at nine I didn't really fathom how important it was. He looked up at me and his eyes got big, panic flashing across his face. He dropped the doll and screamed NO in a terrified cracking voice and his eyes shined. Alec spun towards me and started screaming at me to stop. Mom came running up behind me and snatched the book out of my hands before I could do any damage. She rushed into the living room and handed the book to Jace and he collapsed onto his knees clutching it to his chest, seemingly endless tears streaming down his face. Mom gently scolded me and tried to explain how important the book was to him. That it was wrong of him to rip my Barbie dolls' heads off, but it wasn't the same as me destroying his book. She could and she would buy me new dolls, but the book was irreplaceable. I was told gently, but firmly, never to touch the book again. Of course, even for a nine year old, the burned in image of an angry, tough, malicious Jace, reduced to a bawling, crumbled, little boy, was a strong enough reason why never to touch the book again. That was the only time I ever saw Jace cry.

Though Jace was raised by Michael Wayland until he died, that wasn't Jace's birth father. The real story Jace often chose not to tell people. He felt it was just more complicated than most people needed to know. His biological father, William Herondale was married to Jace's mother Celine. William's family was extremely religious and when he chose to marry a girl who was not of the same faith his family cut off all ties to him. Celine came from a very small family, her parents had both been only children and had both passed away when she was a teenager, leaving her and her sister, Amatis, to be raised predominately by her only living relative, a grandmother. Amatis was a couple years older than her sister Celine, and Amatis married Michael Wayland two years before Celine became engaged. Unfortunately their grandmother became very sick shortly after Celine got engaged and died just weeks before the wedding, leaving Celine with her only living family left, her sister, Amatis. Michael and Amatis had a son, Jonathan Christopher, he was born just a couple months after Celine and William's wedding. A few months later, Celine found out she was expecting. Amatis and Michael were the only family either William or Celine had, and Celine was very close to her sister. William and Celine asked Amatis and Michael if they would raise their child in the event anything should happen to them. Amatis and Michael wholeheartedly accepted the request and that is how William and Celine's will was written. Not that anybody thought that would ever happen.

In one car accident, Micheal lost his wife, his son, and his brother-in-law. It was a winter night and Amatis had brought Jonathan to Celine's for a visit, but as the evening went on, snowy weather snuck up on them. Celine tried to convince Amatis to stay the night, but she wanted to get home. They only lived a couple miles apart. William had insisted on driving. He had a four-wheel drive SUV and was a very good driver, but unfortunately it didn't matter when they were hit by an out-of-control driver. Michael and Celine became close after the accident. He tried to help her whenever he could knowing she had no other family. Days before Celine went into labor; she had asked Micheal if she could name the baby Jonathan Christopher. She had loved her nephew very much and felt this would be a tribute to him. Michael was touched. Unfortunately, before Michael could completely morn the loss of his own family, Celine died during childbirth, leaving Michael with her son. Following her wishes, Michael named the child Jonathan Christopher.

My mother and father were always close to Michael and Amatis and had stayed close to Michael throughout all the tragedy that befell him. Mom said she would often look after Jace when he was very little when Michael had to work. Jace was actually a nickname she came up with after Alec started talking, because Jonathan was just too hard for Alec to say. Knowing the importance of being prepared should the worse happen, Michael had asked my mom and dad to be Jace's Godparents, but prayed it would never come to that. As Jace got a little older, Michael became withdrawn and we saw Jace less and less. Over the last few years before Michael died, we hadn't seen Jace at all. When mom and dad heard word of Michael's death they quickly set things in motion to take Jace in, but he seemed like a different child when he showed up. He was guarded, withdrawn, angry, destructive, no longer the happy little boy he was when he was very little.

I was just finishing my makeup when Clary came back in the room completely ready. She was wearing jean shorts and one of my favorite tops I bought out for her. It was a black strapless silhouette top with a built in bra and an empire waist. It was spandex, so it fanned out, but it fell flat along her torso. There was an adorable bow tie just before it fanned out, under her chest, that hung down to the hem. It gave her a really cute hourglass shape. She had thrown her wet hair up in a messy knot and had loose curls falling down around her face and down her back. She was wearing a good amount of makeup for Clary. The same pretty sparkly green eyeliner she had on yesterday, mascara, a touch of light brown eye shadow, and lip-gloss. She headed over to the closet and was rummaging through the shoes. I was still at the vanity so I grabbed the black dangly earrings I had worn to the club a couple nights ago, they would look perfect with her outfit. She picked out a pair of black wedge strappy sandals, which I approved of. I gave her the earrings, which she took without a fuss and she also grabbed a watch. I was finished getting ready by this point. I had on a rather simple peach knit halter sundress with a deep v-neck. It fell to about six inches above my knees. It had a great A-line silhouette and a banded empire waist. I threw on a pair of gold hoops, some bracelets, a necklace, and a pair of nude wedge sandals. I swapped Clary's stuff into a black purse and put mine into my favorite sand color leather Coach purse; same color as my shoes.

Clary and I headed out of the house round 6:30. Nobody else was up yet that we had seen. I didn't want to overwhelm Clary about what was going on with her. She could be a bit temperamental at the best of times, and it was best to wait until she had eaten and had some coffee in her to delve into any serious conversations. I asked her about her day yesterday had gone, and how tennis went. She told me a lot about Will, Jem, and Jessie. Simon and I had spent most of the day swimming and playing games, so I didn't have nearly as much to talk about. She seemed surprisingly good natured. I hadn't seen her so carefree in a long time. She had some color in her checks, she looked healthy, and the bags under her eyes looked faded, almost gone. She must have slept really well last night, for a change. She had a faint smile plastered to her face and her eyes seemed to sparkle. I couldn't help but smile, she looked happy. I didn't want to ruin the moment, she didn't mention Jace once and I didn't bring him up either, I knew that was a sensitive subject right now. Even though I was certain that's why she was happy, I knew if I mentioned it her mood would break and she just close up like a clam.

Our conversation stayed light, nothing serious. Simon had asked me to try to convince Clary to live with us, but I didn't want to ruin her mood and bring it up now. Clary also promised me a conversation about what the hell went on with her and Sebastian the other night, but she wasn't volunteering to bring that up either, so I let her slide. I updated Clary on Eric. Told her that Simon text Eric last night and explained she didn't feel well suddenly, and couldn't make it to dinner. I told her I didn't give him details that she had fainted, which she was happy I didn't, but told her he was completely understanding. He did ask for a rain check, which I told him should be fine, and she said that was alright. It was nice just having idle conversation with Clary. It had been a while since the two of us just hung out together and caught up. She seemed to want to just mope around her apartment the last couple months and do hardly anything. Right now though, she seemed really happy, lively, just like her old self.

Around 8:00, Maia text Clary to see where she was and if she wanted to go horseback riding with her, Jordan, and Bat, if she felt up to it. Clary was adamant she was fine, and was more than excited to go. After riding with Jace, Clary had suddenly gotten really excited about learning to ride. She had brought it up to Maia and I the other night, when we had a girls night. Maia and Jordan said they would come by with Bat and pick her up at Panera Bread in about 30 minutes. She would grab Clary some clothes and shoes. I didn't ask Clary about spending time with Bat, or about spending so much time with Will yesterday. I knew Clary, she always was more friendly with boys than girls. Having Simon as her best friend most of her life, and now Alec, was a pretty good indication that she wasn't a real girly girly, which neither was I. It was part of the reason it was so odd when we both became really good friends. Maia was totally friendly with everybody. She had lots of girl friends and guy friends. For Clary and I though, Maia was our only real other female friend. Not that we didn't occasionally hang out with other girls, I hung out with Aline once in a while, and Clary had a few female friends here and there in high school, but none she really kept touch with over the summer. Now that school was over, neither of us really bothered to reach out to our old high school female friends. Clary might be in contact with Jaida Jones, but that was it. So we both just tended to be friendlier with guys than girls. Though by the time you're our age, 18, well almost 19, a lot of people question if girls and guys can really just be friends. I might not be the best example of why people question that, but Clary certainly has guy friends she doesn't sleep with. Anyway, who am I to judge?

The next half hour went by quickly, just some more idle conversation. Clary tried to convince me to go riding, but with my allergies, there was no way I was going near that hay invested barn. Maia and Jordan showed up with Bat exactly on time and they all left after ordering coffees to go. I gave Clary a quick speech about drinking plenty of water, which Maia promised to watch her, and Maia also asked for a run down of what Clary had eaten and how she was acting. Clary looked a bit humiliated, and complained she felt like a child that was being transferred from one parent to another, but neither Maia nor I were dissuaded to swap info. Maia was satisfied to hear Clary ate a breakfast sandwich and had already drank two bottles of water over the course of the morning, one in the car, and one at the café. She had an iced coffee as well, but after a quick lecture from Maia on watching her caffeine, Clary gave-up on buying another one before she left, and opted for another water instead. I smiled as I left Clary with Maia. If anybody could keep Clary in check it was Maia, she didn't indulge Clary like the rest of us.

I returned back to the still quiet house by myself. It was just about 9:00 at this point. I was sitting at the kitchen table doing a crossword puzzle, sipping on the iced-coffee I bought right before I left the cafe. I heard a door open and close in the hallway and then I saw movement in my peripheral vision. I looked up to see Jace in the hallway, just about to walk by the kitchen, in the direction of Clary's room. He caught my eye and walked into the kitchen instead. His hair was tousled from sleep, and he had on navy blue gym shorts and no top. Besides the ever so slightly concerned look in his eyes, he still had a hint of a smile across his lips, and I could tell he didn't have any dark bags under his eyes. He looked well rested for a change. I couldn't help but smile. Couldn't they tell how much better off they both were together?

"You know where Clary is? Is she in her room?" I smiled wider.

"I know she didn't sleep in her room last night" Jace smiled an amused smile and a slight blush crept into his checks, it was so cute, I don't think I've seen that boy blush before.

"Jace Wayland are you blushing?" He rolled his eyes and his smile quickly became a smirk.

"I didn't ask where she slept I asked if you know where she is now." I couldn't help but frown slightly. He wasn't going to be happy when I told him.

"Yes." I scrunched up my face. He looked at me with a expression that asked and, but I just kept silent.

"Izzy, usually one asks such a question not just to get a yes and no answer." I shrugged.

"But, you didn't ask where she was, you just asked if I knew where she was." Jace threw his head back exaggeratedly.

"Work with me Izzy. Where is Clary? Please don't tell me she told you not to tell me where she went, you know Simon will tell me if you don't. He told me where to find her yesterday. He's actually been surprisingly helpful." I evaded his question again.

"Yeah. What's up with you and Simon being sudden BFFs?" Jace shook his head.

"Don't think I didn't notice that you're trying to dodge my question. I don't know though, why he's suddenly more than happy to help me out with Clary. He said something along the lines that he thinks I'm the better of two evils and he trusts me more than other people, or something like that. I didn't ask. He's being helpful, which is more than I can say for you. Now where did she go?"

"He doesn't know by the way. Where she went. He's not up yet." Of course that's when he has to walk into the kitchen. He looked so cute. He's been wearing contacts, but he had his glasses on, hair a mess, he doesn't get the cute tousled look like Jace, Alec, and Jordan, he just looks like he has a bad case of bed head. Everything flat on one side, everything sticking up on the other. He had on black gym shorts with a dark green stripe up the sides of both legs and one of his black gamer t-shirts.

"Morning baby." Simon walked over and gave me a kiss on the cheek before heading to the fridge to pour himself some orange juice. Jace was staring at me with his arms crossed.

"What's up with you two?" Simon looked from Jace to me and put his cup down.

"Izzy is skirting my inquires as to the whereabouts of a certain little red head." Simon rolled his eyes.

"Just tell him where she went Iz." I huffed.

"What's up with you being on Jace's side all of a sudden?" Simon grimaced.

"Trust me you don't want to know. Just tell him." Jace cocked his head towards Simon and raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't just out of the goodness of your heart?" Simon furrowed his eyebrows at Jace.

"First of all, don't question my good deeds, or they will stop! If Clary finds out she'll be pissed." He turned his gaze on me and smiled a very persuasive smile.

"Please my love would you oblige your brother's request." I couldn't help but smile, he looked so cute. I beckoned Simon over with my index finger and he walked over to me with a quizzical look. Jace just stood there, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. I gave Simon a peck on the lips before whispering in his ear.

"Can't you see how happy he looks? Clary looked just as ecstatic this morning. She slept in his room last night." Simon pulled away and looked at me with bulging eyes.

"What?" Simon demanded. Jace looked pissed.

"Tell me!" Jace snapped.

"I just told him she slept in your room idiot. Calm down both of you. You're overreacting. I wasn't done." I grabbed the front of Simon's shirt and yanked him back towards me. I continued to whisper to Simon.

"Calm down. She wasn't glowing like a damn Christmas tree. I'm sure nothing happened. You think he would have taken advantage of her in that state. Plus, does Jace really look like he just got laid." Simon tried to pull away, but I kept my hand firm on his shirt and he didn't resist.

"It's just. She went horseback riding with Maia, Jordan, and Bat. I think it will upset Jace. Plus I don't want Clary thinking I've been telling Jace where she is all the time." I let go of his shirt. He nodded his head and gave me a measured look before he turned his gaze to Jace.

"You heard it from me, if anybody asks. Sorry man. She went horseback riding." Jace dropped his arms to his side. His whole face fell.

"Is she alright to be out riding?" Simon and I both nodded.

"Yeah Jace. She usually only feels crappy for a short time, maybe an hour or so. Last night was pretty bad, but this morning she was fine. We went out to breakfast and she ate well and drank two bottles of water, took one with her. She's fine. Maia and Jordan are with her. They'll keep an eye on her." I tried to look encouraging, but he looked pretty disappointed. He took a big exasperated breath.

"Well that's just great." He sounded so sarcastic. He turned and walked out of the kitchen. Simon smiled an exaggerated smile and he looked at me. His eyes got big for a second and returned to normal.

"I think that went well, don't you?" He said sarcastically. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Well even if Simon told Jace where Clary was, we did kind of leave out the part about Bat. Jace didn't pry for more information and neither of us were forthcoming. I didn't really feel like I betrayed Clary's confidence, not that I really knew what she was up to mind you. I wasn't sure what was going on with Simon either, but I was kind of happy he was feeding information to Jace.

A little while later Simon finally gave in and brought me boutique shopping in town. We took Clary's car, but we text her first, and she said it was fine. I bought a ton of stuff, including a new outfit for Clary as a thank you for using the car for the day. I figure she can wear it to Kaelie's bonfire thing we're all planning on going to.

Several hours later, around 4:00, we hadn't been back to the cottage that long, but we were playing the card game of war in the kitchen, when Clary text me to ask if Jace was at the cottage. She could have just text him, so I had a feeling she was trying to avoid him. I can recognize Clary's tactics. She was really good at avoiding guys if she wanted to. Jace was there, but had just been talking about going for a run. I text Clary back and she asked me to text her after he left. Like clockwork I text her as soon as he was gone and five minutes later she walked into the cottage with Maia and Jordan. I was sitting in the living room on the loveseat with Simon semi reading and semi watching him play a video game. They walked into the living room laughing and smelling terrible.

"You guys all stink." They laughed. I got a chorus of affirmatives.

"Hey Izzy. I made planes with Eric tonight. You and Simon want to go?" Simon paused his game and looked at me over his shoulder with furrowed eyebrows.

"You've got to be kidding me." Clary rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to." He shook his head.

"That's not what I meant." Clary gave him a quizzical expression as I jabbed him the ribs.

"Sure. Sounds fun. When are we meeting him?" I said trying to sound excited about going out, even though I wasn't thrilled. She looked at the clock on the wall over the tv.

"Just under an hour. The place is about 15 minutes away though, so I have to get in the shower." I nodded and Clary took off down the hall. I was fine in what I was wearing, and Simon had showered before we went shopping, but he wanted to change. About 45 minutes later Simon and Clary were both ready. Clary had changed into a cute racerback blue and white horizontal thin striped loose fitting tank top, with 5-buttons up the front. It had a scoop neck, but wasn't reveling, even with the top button undone. She had on tan cut-off denim shorts. Her wet hair was thrown up like usual in a messy knot with curls pooling down randomly around her face and down her back. She was wearing thin gold hoops. She had on her white wedge sandals. She had done her eyes differently, and was wearing blue sparkly eyeliner. It really brought out the blue in her eyes and made them look more teal. She had on mascara and a touch of lip-gloss. I had transferred her stuff into her blue purse. She looked cute. Not really a hot date cute, but then again, who said this was a hot date.

Right on time, 5:30, we were pulling into the restaurant; Simon decided he'd drive, even though we were taking Clary's car. A guy thing I guess. I sat in the passenger seat leaving Clary in the backseat alone. Simon and I visited some, with the radio low, while Clary was fairly quiet. Shortly after we were all seated and our meals ordered, like clockwork, Simon got a text. He smirked and shook his head as he discreetly sent a text back and put his phone away. I had a feeling Jace just figured out Maia and Jordan were back, but Clary was not.


Charles Dickens: A tale of Two Cities